Meeting to decide on community college liquidation

Community College East Gippsland creditors, employees and students will meet in Bairnsdale today to decide whether the registered training organisation will be liquidated.

After haemorrhaging hundreds of thousands of dollars, over-claiming Federal Government funding and being investigated for providing inferior training qualifications, Community College East Gippsland shut its doors and was placed into voluntary administration on October 1.

Its administrator says the college should be liquidated.

If liquidated, members of its incorporated association will be investigated for insolvent trading and its limited assets will be divided between creditors.

The administrator does not expect any of the members to attend today's meeting.

Its report says about 800 former students now hold invalid qualifications.

The Victorian Higher Education and Skills Minister, Peter Hall, says the collapse of the college does not reflect a wider problem.

He says students will be assisted to retrain if the Victorian Qualifications Registrations Authority says it is necessary.

Mr Hall says laws governing who can operate as registered training organisations (RTOs) such as the college do not need to be strengthened.

"We have certainly strengthened the requirements for all RTOs to deliver training in Victoria, that being said this is obviously something that's risen on a recent change of management of this institution," he said.

"The current management have been more than cooperative in raising concerns as immediately as they become aware of them."

He says students' qualifications will be investigated and students assisted in retraining if necessary.

"I think it's important that that be checked and where needed there be processes available to either validate those qualifications or to either give opportunity for students to undertake what is necessary to complete that qualification," he said.